IFOA: Soil Health & Nutrient Management Challenge
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario searched for innovative solutions that could improve farmers’ ability to implement better nutrient management while improving soil health.
CHALLENGE LAUNCH: NOVEMBER 2022
Soil Health & Nutrient Management Challenge
The Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario's Soil Health and Nutrient Management Challenge aimed to revolutionize agriculture in Ontario by finding innovative solutions to enhance crop yields, reduce environmental impact, and support sustainable farming practices.
With a focus on real-world applications and farmer collaboration, the challenge offered a unique opportunity to develop and implement cutting-edge technologies that will shape the future of agriculture. Through the Challenge Winner's resulting pilot, nitrogen management practices have advanced in the Great Lakes area, contributing to a targeted 30% reduction in nitrogen emissions.
The Opportunity
Healthy, nutrient-dense soil leads to higher crop yields and increased profitability for farmers. However, the average field crop operation faces significant challenges in maintaining soil health and nutrient levels, including:
- Nitrogen loss through leaching, runoff, and volatilization
- Skilled labour shortages
- Unreliable fertilizer application advice
The Soil Health and Nutrient Management Challenge invited innovators to develop solutions that address these critical issues by:
- Improving the rate, timing, and placement of fertilizers
- Improving soil structure and water holding capacity
- Reducing erosion
Successful solutions were eligible for:
- Three year, on-farm pilot projects with across three+ Ontario farms (averaging 1000 acres in production, on field trials between five acres and 100 acres) on various soil types.
- Up to $20,000/year, to a maximum of $60,000 over three years. 1:1 investment or in-kind match from winner(s) is encouraged but not required.
The Partner
As a collective of perceptive, innovative, and resourceful farmers, the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFOA) has been promoting soil health in Ontario agriculture for over 30 years. They are focused on environmental and financial sustainability, supporting innovations in agriculture through connection and collaboration with farmers.
IFAO facilitates idea exchanges and collaborates to test and develop innovation to support the betterment of Ontario’s agricultural sector.
Challenge Background & Barriers to Adoption
Ontario farmers identified the following barriers to adoption. Successful solutions should have overcome these critical barriers to adoption for soil health and 4R nutrient stewardship practices:
1
Water Budgets
Successful proposals will have strong methods for managing the use of their solutions with varying water budgets.
2
Profitability
Profitability in the year that a technology or product is used is key. Applicants should consider how their solution might fit into existing networks of cooperative management or custom operations.
3
Soil Health Assessments
Soil health assessments need to be transparent, actionable, and comparable. The OMAFRA Soil Health Assessment Protocol is the preferred means of assessing changes in soil health. A minimum three year commitment is required to properly determine changes in soil health.
4
Skilled Labour Shortages
There is a significant skilled labour shortage in agriculture. Skills training and simplicity of solutions is key to successful adoption.
5
Weather Uncertainties
Information must be available on the effectiveness of a product under the wide variety of weather conditions. Predicting rainfall is a significant challenge directly affecting how accurate and economical farmers can be with their nitrogen placement.
6
On-Farm Trials
Farmers will not readily adopt technologies or solutions that come out of controlled trials and greenhouse studies. Solutions must come from on-farm trials.
7
Farmer-to-Farmer Translation
The strongest solutions will empower farmers to share their knowledge with their peers through education and outreach events.
8
Nutrient Management Plans
Nutrient management plans are not required of field crop farmers in Ontario. Solutions requiring a nutrient management plan must be prepared to support farmers through a new and often daunting process.
9
Fertilizer Consultation Resources
Farmers appreciate independent information on fertilizer rates and applications in order to trust that they are applying the most economical rate.
Evaluation & Eligibility:
A successful solution must be scaleable for the average field crop operation in Ontario (1000 acres), running three+ active pilot projects over a minimum three year period. The solution should:
- Be profitable for the average field crop farmer in Ontario in the first year, at relatively low implementation costs
- Improve nutrient management and soil health simultaneously
- Fit easily into existing farm operations with little skill improvements required
- Address weather uncertainties either directly through predictive technology or indirectly through technology use methodology, taking various water budgets into account
Eligible solutions must have met the following criteria:
- Be applicable to a Canadian agriculture context
- Demonstrate improvement in nutrient management and soil health
- TRL 6-9
WINNERS ANNOUNCED: MARCH 2023
The Challenge Winner
The challenge received nine applications, and after the eligibility screening, seven eligible applications were sent to the reviewers.
After the review, three finalists were selected and invited to pitch:
- FARMEYE: FARMEYE’s advanced Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) software allows insights to be derived from soil health, farm carbon and environmental data, enabling the agri-sector to adjust to meet stringent climate targets. We are actively looking at strategies to feed LENS tissue sample results into the FARMEYE platform to provide farmers with the data and analysis they need to make decisions for their farms.
- Lucent Biosciences: The team at Lucent Bio has developed a patented technology that binds micronutrients to cellulose and uses the soil’s natural biological activity to release nutrients to the crops as required. Instead of simply releasing them all at once as other fertilizers do, cellulose-bound nutrients are delivered to the crops in the same environmentally sustainable way ecosystems have evolved for thousands of years.
- Picketa Systems: Real-time plant tissue nutrient analysis. The LENS solution developed by Picketa Systems is a key technology in the transition toward precision nutrient management. It allows agronomists to conduct real-time analysis of leaf tissue samples, providing detailed information about nutrient levels in the plants and in specific areas of a farm.
After the pitch sessions, the reviewers selected Picketa Systems as the winner of this challenge.
UPDATED: DECEMBER 2023
Outcomes
Picketa Systems, in collaboration with the University of Guelph's Muck Research Station and Haggerty Ag Robotics, demonstrated their LENS technology, which provides comprehensive nitrogen management solutions for various crops. This project has significantly advanced nitrogen management practices in the Great Lakes area, contributing to a targeted 30% reduction in nitrogen emissions.
Foresight and the IFAO are also exploring the possibility of bringing fellow-finalist FARMEYE on board for the pilot. We are actively looking at strategies to feed LENS tissue sample results into the FARMEYE platform to provide farmers with the data and analysis they need to make decisions for their farms.
Both Foresight and the IFAO are thrilled that this challenge will create not only on-the-ground results for farmers and improved soil health and nutrient management, but may also create the opportunity for two ventures to collaborate in a new way.
Quotes
It was such a pleasure working with IFAO to source viable solutions that improve soil health and nutrient management for Canadian farmers. I am very excited about the opportunity for two ventures to come together to further develop their problem-driven solutions for this market. Innovation is not a solitary endeavor. Industry and innovators connecting through Challenges like this one is a clear pathway to solve urgent sustainability issues. If we are going to meet our lofty climate targets, this is the type of collaboration we need to see more of.
Jeanette Jackson CEO, Foresight Canada
Finding solutions that improve soil health and nutrient management will benefit agriculture and the environment. We're very happy to have worked with Foresight Canada to select and connect two ventures with strong solutions in store for Ontario agriculture.
Tori Waugh IFOA
Winning the IFAO Soil Health Challenge has given us a great opportunity to showcase our innovative solutions and demonstrate how they can benefit farmers in Ontario and beyond. Our technology has the potential to help farmers optimize their operations, by providing real-time insights into crop nutrient levels, and helping to maximize irrigation and fertilizer use. We are excited to work with farmers in Ontario to help them increase yields, reduce costs, and improve sustainability, and we believe that our solutions will play an important role in shaping the future of agriculture.
Xavier Hébert Couturier, Picketa Systems
The Soil Health and Nutrient Management Challenge has given us the opportunity to collaborate with other innovators and bring the FARMEYE platform to new audiences. Our software platform will help Ontario farmers measure and manage large-scale natural capital datasets to achieve Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTis) and use the most advanced Technology-Stack and accreditation to verify Natural Capital datasets, including soil health, soil carbon, water quality and biodiversity.
Stephen Coen FARMEYE
Our Partners
This Challenge is presented with support from the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario, and founding agriNEXT partners Farm Credit Canada and Natural Products Canada.
Farm Credit Canada (FCC)‘s funding support for innovative technology and sustainable agriculture, in combination with Foresight’s proven accelerator model, are the keys to unlocking a green and resilient agricultural future for all Canadians. With the support of FCC, we are expanding our support for the agritech and agrifood innovation community and industry in Canada, with the launch of agriNEXT events and initiatives, and venture training courses.
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